A superintendent of police rank officer with Criminal Investigation Department in March 2016 allegedly extorted Rs 2 lakh from a four-star hotel in Bengaluru after they failed to find any proof of a prostitution racket being run there.
According to a Bangalore Mirror report, on March 3, SP, ML Madhura Veena, along with 11 policemen, raided Ramada hotel at 2:30 pm, without a search warrant.
The hotel complained to CID that the police barged in despite having produced relevant documents about the guests residing at the hotel.
Veena and two cops entered room number 306, where two girls who had booked the room online were staying, reported Bangalore Mirror.
When the cops did not find any proof of prostitution, the personnel allegedly demanded the hotel to pay up Rs 5 lakh if they did not want a case to be lodged against the hotel.
After over 3 hours of negotiation, the hotel was ready to offer Rs 25,000. However, the personnel demanded a higher amount as the raid was done by an “SP-level officer”.
The hotel officials also claimed that the SP threatened to book cases against the hotel unless they paid the amount demanded, reported Bangalore Mirror.
Veena had informed CID DIG Sonia Narang about the raid who asked Veena to leave immediately as there was no proof. Veena left with the policemen except two DySP-rank officers who struck a deal and got a final settlement of Rs 2 lakh, reported BM.
On conducting a departmental enquiry on the order of CID DG Kishore Chandra, Narang studied CCTV footage, cash withdrawal documents from banks and diary entry maintained by the police personnel.
Kishore Chandra said: “A complaint came from the hotel management against an SP and her team. The matter was investigated by a senior officer and she submitted the report, including all the statements, CCTV footage and many more components. I have passed this report to DG&IG Om Prakash for further action.”
Narang also found that this was not the first time Veena and her team had extorted money from a hotel. Last year, they allegedly raided Hotel Royal Orchid in Manipal Center and extorted Rs 4 lakh from the hotel.
This is an aggregated report from Bangalore Mirror.